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Strategy and Resources Committee Meeting 8-2009

Meeting 8/2009 of the Strategy and Resources Committee commenced at 4.00 pm on Thursday 3 September 2009 in the Sir George Lush Meeting Room, Building 3a, Clayton campus.

Rhonda Hinds
Secretary

MINUTES

1.      Attendance and apologies

There were present:
Professor Ed Byrne AO (Chair), Professor Helen Bartlett, Professor Keryn Chalmers (for Professor Stephen King), Professor Merran Evans, Mr Ron Fairchild, Professor Rae Frances, Professor Max King, Professor HP Lee (representing Professor Arie Freiberg), Professor Guojun Lu (representing Professor Ron Weber), Mr Peter Marshall, Professor Rob Norris, Mr David Pitt, Professor Robin Pollard, Professor John Redmond, Professor Tam Sridhar, Professor Bill Charman, Professor Steven Wesselingh, Professor Sue Willis.

Apologies were received from:
Professors Stephanie Fahey, Arie Freiberg, Stephen King, Tyrone Pretorius, Phillip Steele, Adam Shoemaker, Ron Weber. 

In attendance:
Professor Dave Griggs, MSI and Mr David McKay, Lead EIF Consultant (for item 4.1).
Mr Peter Corkill, Principal of John Monash Science School and Mr Roger Page, Principal of Nossal High School (for item 6.1).
Ms Loren Miller, Director Business Strategy (for item 9.2).

2.      Formal Items

The Committee agreed that all items on the agenda not starred be adopted without discussion, and the action recommended be taken or the information therein noted.

3.      Minutes of Meeting 7/2009

The Committee confirmed the Minutes of SRC Meeting 7/2009, held on 6 August 2009.

4.      Matters arising from the Minutes of Meeting 7/2009

4.1    Education Investment Fund (EIF) (item 4.1)

Mr Marshall updated the Committee on the progress of priority bids for EIF Round 3 and the EIF Sustainability Round. He reminded members that the research category bid was in Green Chemistry and that the education category bid was for the Monash-Chisholm Community Health and Development Precinct, before introducing Professor Dave Griggs, who reported on the Sustainable Education and Research Building bid.  

Professor Griggs outlined the key features of the sustainability bid, emphasising that as the project cut across disciplines, "buy in" from across the University was essential.

During subsequent discussion, members were advised that, as this was a Phase One bid, if it was short-listed there would be a need for consideration of available options and working through further detail at the operational level. It was also suggested that further promotional work at faculty level would be useful in achieving wide engagement with the project.

For information: Mr P Marshall, Ms M Blackwell, Professor D Griggs

4.2    Monash Network (item 8.1)

In Professor Fahey's absence, this item was deferred to the October meeting.

5.      Vice-Chancellor's Business

5.1    Vice-Chancellor's Report

Professor Byrne reported on further work towards academic strengthening at Monash, including the development of processes to strengthen the academy, which would be brought before the Committee and Academic Board, and the work to be undertaken by the cross-faculty, cluster-aligned task forces.

The opportunities and challenges for Monash in view of the development of the Federal Government's agenda for education were emphasised. To best position Monash to differentiate itself from other institutions and prosper in this climate, the establishment of a working group (to be convened by Professor Shoemaker, and to include VCG and two Deans, the PVCs Campus Co-ordination, Gippsland, Planning and Quality and Council representatives) to undertake a strategic and opportunities analysis was proposed. From this work, a discussion paper which would facilitate high-level thinking and organisation of strategic directions would be brought to SRC.

A range of issues was canvassed in subsequent discussion, including:

  • The utility of the working group's having before it an analysis of options available to Monash under the 2040 agenda.
  • Accounting for disciplinary differences when determining and implementing standards.
  • The parallel and interlinked nature of the 2040 agenda and academic strengthening processes.

Concluding this item, the Chair indicated that further information would be circulated to the Committee.

5.2    Relationship with the University of Melbourne

Professor Byrne reported on a recent meeting with Professor Glyn Davis AC, Vice-Chancellor, University of Melbourne and the potential for re-invigorating the Monash/Melbourne accord.

5.3    Sub-Committee Reporting Lines

Professor Byrne advised members that a proposal to amend the reporting lines of sub-committees reporting to SRC would be brought to the October meeting.

6.      Education Portfolio

6.1    Portfolio Report

In Professor Shoemaker's absence, this item was deferred to the October meeting.

6.2    John Monash Science School and Nossal High School

The Committee welcomed the Principals of the John Monash Science School and Nossal High School, who provided a work in progress report on the establishment of the two schools, criteria for entry, curriculum development and anticipated challenges and opportunities.

For information: Professors A Shoemaker, P Steele

6.3    Copyright Advisory Group

The Committee received and noted the report of the meeting of the Copyright Advisory Group held on 3 June 2009.

For information: Ms J Burbidge

7.      Research Portfolio

7.1    Grand Challenges

Professor Cornish reported on the development of Research Themes and Grand Challenges, explaining that five thematic areas had been identified, designed to drive Monash's research focus and engagement, including with the Government's research priorities. Professor Cornish indicated that developmental work would be undertaken through MRC and brought back to the Committee.

For information: Professor E Cornish, Ms J Holt

7.2    National Competitive Grant (NCG) Strategy

Professor Cornish reported on the analysis of Category 1 grants, noting that there were a significant number of senior academics who did not hold ARC Discovery or other Category 1 grants. She also observed that there had been a downturn in industry engagement.

A recent MRC "brainstorming" session had identified a number of areas where improvement was needed, including recruitment, dealing with underperforming cohorts, clarity of expectations at all levels and development of workload models.

Professor Cornish proceeded to outline Monash's needs regarding improved grantsmanship including increasing the number of expert council memberships, increased coaching of applicants and applicant capability upscaling. A number of ideas for process improvements were also suggested.

The Committee strongly endorsed the proposals for improvement, noting that:

  • The issues identified above would be placed on the Committee's agenda for consideration. It was crucial to engage university-wide support for improvement, as critical mass in research excellence was the key to success.
  • The "teaching intensive" category of staff was critical, requiring detailed and sensitive consideration - to this end, a paper would be brought to the Committee for discussion. It was noted that clarity in communicating information around teaching-intensive positions was essential.
  • The Faculty of Business and Economics had undertaken significant redevelopment of the workload model.

For information: Professor E Cornish

7.3    Equivalent Research Block Grant Funding to Overseas Campuses

The Committee endorsed the proposed treatment of the IGS equivalent earnings for the Sunway and South African campuses.

For information: Professors E Cornish, R Pollard

8.      International Portfolio

8.1    Portfolio Report

In Professor Fahey's absence, this item was deferred to the October meeting.

8.2    Publications Committee

The Committee received and noted the report of Publications Committee Meeting 3/2009.

For information: Ms D Aitken

9.      Finance Portfolio

9.1    2010 Budget

Mr Pitt reported on progress towards the 2010 Budget, emphasising the cash break-even target for 2010 and observing that both faculties' and the central budgets were straining to reach their targets. Members were also advised that funding for initiatives would be difficult and that further failure by the amenities legislation to pass the Senate would be likely to have a negative impact.

In response to a member query regarding the impact of central support charges on faculty budgets, members were advised that budget growth for the centre would be negative (4.5%), and that the significant efforts by the centre to reduce costs would be reflected in the casting of the faculty budgets.

Members were also advised that the 2010 Budget would be a key issue for the next meeting.

For information: Mr D Pitt, Mr R Dias

9.2    Financial Reports

The Committee received and noted the Financial Report for July 2009, including the Research Revenue and Donations Reports.

9.3    Financial Services Enhancement (FSE) Project

Members had before them the recommendations arising from the FSE Project. Mr Pitt introduced this item by summarising the three areas into which the recommendations were clustered:

  • Introduction of a "hub" model for finance services.
  • Common budgeting and planning model across the University.
  • A program of systems and process improvements.

Continuing the presentation, Ms Miller outlined further detail for the proposed hub model, explaining that it would be enabled by process improvement and that its implementation would deliver cost efficiencies of at least 25%, in addition to a range of benefits at a strategic level. She spoke to the financial business case and necessary budget allocation. In conclusion, Ms Miller emphasised the collaborative nature of the project and positive contributions from participants.

A range of issues was canvassed in subsequent discussion, including:

  • The need to account for the position of the Gippsland campus under the new model.
  • The good fit of the recommended model with Monash's strategic directions.
  • The need to commence implementation sooner rather than later, but with the recognition that some fine-tuning may be required.
  • The possible duality of financial reporting relationships.
  • The extent to which anticipated savings would be realised.
  • Movement by most other Go8 universities towards this type of structure, which was now standard amongst large international universities.
  • The need to validate budget predictions, to ensure clarity on savings.
  • The potential to pilot one hub/cluster, to be discussed with relevant Deans.

It was noted that a significant part of the Committee's work would be to monitor the progress of this and like projects, and that to enable this to be done effectively, development of appropriate metrics would be required.

The Committee then approved the recommendations of the Financial Services Enhancement Project subject to clarification of issues raised in discussion.

For information: Mr D Pitt, Ms L Miller

10.      Administration Portfolio

10.1    Restructure

Mr Marshall reported further on the proposal to establish taskforces to leverage off the opportunities presented by the faculty cluster model with a view to improvement in academic activity, and the proposal to establish the Strengthening the Academy Taskforce.

He advised that these proposals had been considered by VCG, and being broadly cast should be regarded as start points for further action. Emphasis was placed on the dynamic nature of the documents presenting the proposals, and further comment was strongly encouraged. The release of a further iteration of the proposals within the next week or two would be the precursor to the taskforces' commencing work.

The Committee received the proposals and noted Mr Marshall's advice.

For information: Mr P Marshall

10.2    Recruitment Advertising

The Committee received and noted the changes to recruitment advertising procedures.

For information: Mr P Marshall, Ms K Haywood

10.3    Environmental Sustainability Policy and Procedures

The Committee approved the Environmental Policy and associated Procedures.

For information: Ms M Ralph, Mr D Secomb, Mr K Williamson

10.4    Crisis Management Policy and Procedures

The Committee approved the proposed transfer of the Crisis Management Policy and Procedures from the Audit and Risk Management portion of the University Policy Bank to the Facilities and Services component of the University Policy Bank.

For information: Mr S Davey, Mr D Secomb, Mr K Williamson

11.      Advancement Portfolio

The report was deferred to the October meeting.

12.      Other Business

13.      Next meeting

SRC Meeting 9/2009 is scheduled for Thursday 1 September 2009, commencing at 4.00 pm.